Atlas of Heaven and Man

The next day, in the afternoon, Chen Chuan came out of the dormitory and first met up with two teammates before heading to the tea party location.

Although he was the only one invited this time, invitees were allowed to bring a few people. Yuan Qiuyuan, upon learning that he had received an invitation yesterday, expressed his desire to come along. Given that they were a team and would likely be transferred to Chen Bitong's side together in the future, he simply invited Qin Qingque along as well.

When the three arrived, many people were already there, chatting in small groups with wine glasses in hand.

These people were a mix of men and women, all wearing low-ranking officer uniforms, presumably those who had traveled by train. Their common characteristic was that they all looked very young, and one could clearly sense the air of military offspring about them.

Chen Chuan could discern from their aura that many of them had installed implants, which was clearly not the normal path for combatants.

This further confirmed his previous judgment that these people were not juniors seeking guidance from Chen Bitong, nor did they particularly need it. They were simply a faction showing their support and standing behind Chen Bitong.

The reason for choosing this location for the meeting was that Chen Bitong would be leaving the Convergence Zone in a few days to take a vacation in the Central City. This was his last stop before leaving the Convergence Zone.

Yuan Qiuyuan glanced around, seeing the long table filled with exquisite refreshments and premium drinks, his nose filled with a sweet, cloying scent – all good things that were usually not seen in the base's cafeteria, definitely specially transported from the Central City by train.

He also recognized the characteristics of these military disciples. He asked Qin Qingque, who was beside him, "Executive Qin, do you know anyone here?"

Qin Qingque shook her head and said, "I don't know anyone."

At this moment, everyone present also noticed Chen Chuan and his companions entering. However, although there were many people here, there were very few as young as Chen Chuan who were already wearing the uniform of an executive captain, so his entrance immediately attracted the attention of many.

The handsome military officer walked over, shook hands with Chen Chuan, and said, "Captain Chen, hello, I am Zhan Yi."

Chen Chuan looked at his uniform and epaulettes, also an executive captain, but the other party was more than ten years older than him, looking to be in his thirties. He said, "Captain Zhan, hello."

Zhan Yi said, "My teacher wants to meet you. Please come with me."

Chen Chuan said, "Then I'll trouble you to introduce me."

He turned back to his two teammates and said something, then followed Zhan Yi to Chen Bitong's location. The latter was talking to the garrison commander Lai Wu, surrounded by some high-ranking base officers and staff, but the main base leaders, as yesterday, were nowhere to be seen.

The others were relieved.

Chen Bitong slowly said, "Outstanding young people can be noticed at a glance, even in a crowd."

At this time, a base staff officer said with a smile, "Instructor Chen's eye for talent is indeed accurate. This Captain Chen is the hero who recently brought down the Iron Fiend, solving a major problem for the garrison in this area. He is a rare talent."

An officer asked curiously, "Captain Chen, how did you defeat the Iron Fiend? The report didn't go into much detail. Now that you're here, can you tell us about it?"

The surrounding people also showed interested expressions, and some of the young officers who were nearby also gathered around.

To be honest, most of them were not very interested in specific combat skills, nor could they understand them.

They directly used implants to gain power. High-level implants had fewer side effects and were difficult to detect on the surface. Except for those with special talents, most people preferred to choose a convenient path rather than train and cultivate hard.

But this did not prevent them from being interested in content related to fighting strong enemies, especially when it happened right before their eyes, and one of the parties was an enemy with a considerable reputation like the Iron Fiend.

Chen Chuan saw that Chen Bitong's gaze was also directed at him, so he said, "There's nothing I can't say."

He briefly described the process of that day, from being attacked at night to choosing to take the initiative, and finally defeating the Iron Fiend in a frontal battle.

He did not deliberately embellish or modify the entire process, but described it plainly. It sounded as if it was not very surprising, but in the end, he emphasized the role of the intelligence department.

"If it weren't for the intelligence department's deceptive information, the Iron Fiend would not have returned so easily to fight us. Therefore, I believe that the intelligence department deserves at least half the credit here."

A staff officer present said, "This is probably because only Captain Chen's team was chasing at the time, so the Iron Fiend thought he had you cornered." He turned around, looked at everyone, and said with a smile, "But he never expected Captain Chen to be so strong, and he ended up falling there."

As he spoke, he raised his hand and clapped lightly. The people around also politely applauded. To be honest, many people present were disappointed because, just listening to Chen Chuan's description, it didn't have the thrilling feeling they had imagined, not exciting at all.

Zhan Yi, who was standing aside, noticed something else, "Captain Chen, I heard you say that the Iron Fiend underwent a mutation at the end?"

Chen Chuan said, "Yes, his mutated tissue grew outside his body, thereby gaining strong defensive capabilities and strength. However, as a result, his body became uncoordinated, and overall it was not as good as before."

Chen Bitong then said, "The Iron Fiend should be a demon-ghost."

"A demon-ghost…" Zhan Yi frowned.

The staff officer then said, "Captain Zhan has been abroad for a long time and has just come to the Convergence Zone, so he may not be clear about the situation here. The old imperial family of the Convergence Zone has long colluded with the demon-ghosts. In the past, they would grant demon-ghost status to some clan children worthy of cultivation, allowing them to gain power beyond ordinary people."

"Well, that is, active activation. It is said that this activation technology is controllable. People can not only maintain their original sanity but also gain higher potential."

"However, the situation may have changed now. Not only some members of the imperial family, but also warriors who have been granted titles under them, and some who are valued can also undergo active activation and they regard this as a special honor."

"However, I guess it may be that the Iron Fiend's activation time was not long, or there was some problem with the technology, and he was not able to truly integrate well, so that kind of problem occurred."

There was a young officer who seemed very interested in the matter of demon-ghosts and couldn't help but ask, "Staff Officer Fa, does our Great Shun have this technology?"

Staff Officer Fa smiled and said, "Our Great Shun government would never do such a thing, but it's hard to say about some companies. They will mostly conduct research in private."

He didn't seem to want to talk much about this topic, and smiled at Chen Chuan, "Fortunately, this Iron Fiend was resolved by Captain Chen, otherwise, if he had a higher degree of integration, he would probably grow into an even more difficult enemy in the future."

This time there was applause again, and the sound was slightly warmer and more sincere than before.

However, at this time, another discordant voice rang out: "Captain Chen, I noticed that you said in the report that you stayed outside overnight in the process of chasing the Iron Fiend. You used secret rituals to resist the nighttime anomalies in the Convergence Zone at that time, which is not easy. Captain Chen seems to know a lot about secret rituals."

Everyone turned around and saw a tall officer wearing a disciplinary department uniform standing there, wearing a pair of round glasses and a side parted hair, looking at Chen Chuan with a smile at the moment.

Seeing this person raise this question, everyone looked at each other and showed playful smiles.

Because the secret rituals were something that was watched very closely in Great Shun, and some rituals were explicitly prohibited, but Chen Chuan knew these. Where did he learn them from? Had he ever joined certain cults?

Chen Chuan frankly said, "I do know something. When I was in school, because I came into contact with some abnormal cases, I was entrusted and taken care of by the secret sect review department, so I learned something about this."

"In fact, if it wasn't because I later entered the Central City Wuyi, I might be working in the secret sect review department today instead of coming to the Convergence Zone to fight people."

"Is that so…" The tall officer stared at him for a few moments, then smiled again and said nothing more.

Chen Chuan then looked in the direction of Chen Bitong, took two steps forward, reached the latter, and said, "Instructor Chen, can I ask you a question?"

Chen Bitong wore a half-face mask, with deep lines on his face, and was a very serious person on the surface, but at this moment he said in a gentle tone, "Captain Chen, you can ask anything you want to ask."

Chen Chuan said, "When I fought the Iron Fiend, I found that he had some kind of perception of the danger that was about to happen. The garrison also knew that this person could often avoid the most dangerous places. I would like to ask, is this ability a kind of combat ability, or is it brought about by his demon-ghost identity?"

When everyone heard him ask this, they also became interested and wanted to hear an interpretation in this regard.

However, Chen Bitong did not directly answer this question, but said, "Captain Chen, after I go back this time, I will concentrate on recuperating in the Central City. I will probably open a training guidance class with the support of my friends. If Captain Chen has time, you can come to me, and I will give you an answer then."

Chen Chuan looked at him. Putting aside the position and the problems behind it, this person definitely had real skills. If he could learn something, it would also be beneficial to him, so he said, "Instructor Chen, I will come."

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